Improvement in sewing-machines



UNITED STATEs PATENT OEEICE.,

JASPER W. COBEY, OIF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,942, dated July 1,1879; application filed December 10, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JASPER W. GoEEY, of Chicago, in theA county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Sewing-Machines 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which-Figure l is an elevation of the rear side of my improved sewing-machine.Fig. 2 is a detail view, showing the take-up mechanism and contiguousparts. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the take-up as it appears atitshighest elevation. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the presserbar and tensionmechanism for the needlethread; and Fig. 5 is a detail front view of theface-plate.

My invention consists, first, in a novel combination of parts, and acertain special construction of the presser-bar with reference to saidcombination Vof parts, whereby the tension is removed entirely, oralmost so, from the upper thread when the presser-bar is raised to itshighest point, and again applied when the presser-bar is depressed toits lowest point, both the removal from and application of the tensiondevices to the upper thread being effected by ,the peculiar formation ofthe presser-bar, the`up and down adjustments of the same, together withthe application of the tension devices in such relation to thepeculiarlyformed portion of the presser-bar, that they will be actedupon in the proper manner and at the proper time. By this part of myinvention greater facility is attained in the means employed foraccomplishing an old result, and the operator is still enabled to removethe work from the machine without the trouble and annoyance ofslackening the upper thread by grasping it with the hand and pulling 0Eenough slack thread to permit the work to be removed without breakingthe thread or springing or breaking the needle.

Second. In an improved take-up which does y not operate until the needlehas left the work independent take-up is avoided, the needlelever, witha few simple connections, answering all the purposes of such independenttakel1D- v In the drawings, A represents the bed-plate of mysewing-machine; B, the supportingbracket; C, the main shaft; D, thedrivingwheel, and E the needle-arm. The needlearm is formed with anangular bend at e9, and with a tubular bearing at c, and by thisconstruction its rear extension beyond its bearing e is thrown outlaterally from the bracket B. This needle-arm is arranged on the rearside of the bracket B, and is pivoted thereto, as shown at c4. The rearend of the arm E is connected to an eccentric-rod, j', by aballand-socket-joint device, and this rod is connected by a strap, f1,and eccentric F with the main shaft C.

The front end, el, of the needle-arm isv connected by means of a slot,e2, sliding block e3, and lifting or operating pin g, Fig. 2, with theneedle-bar G, which has its bearings inthe head b of the bracket B.

The parts above described with letters of reference may all be ofsubstantially the usual construction, and I` make, no claim for the sameunder this patent.

Near the needle-bar connection the needlearm E is provided with a pin,h, on which is an anti-friction roller, h2, and against which latter thearm t of a take-up lever, I, bears. The rear end of the lever I ispivoted at c" to the head b of bracket B, andsaid lever extends thenceforward -through a slot in the face-plate b1 of the head Vb'of saidbracket, and is provided near :its front end with an eye, il, throughwhich the needle-thread is passed. llhe arm i joins the lever I, with acurve, 3, of suchV pin J extends through a horizontal oblong slot, b5,in the face-plate b1, to the inner side of which plate a spring, K, isfastened at 7c, and connected with the pin J by having its reduced freeend k passed through the pin.

The pin J is in the same vertical plane with the presser-bar L, whichbar is raised and lowered in the usual manner, and by any of thewell-known appliances, as, for instance, b'y a cam-lever, L5, a lug, L6,and a spring, L7, as shown in the drawings. The cam-lever, together withthe lug, serves as the means for raising the presser-bar, and the springL", against which it is raised, serves for lowering' said presser-bar.The bar L is provided with a depression, I, opposite the end j2 of thepin, and into which depression the pin enters when the presser-bar islowered. This depression Z is just large enough to leave the end 7"IJofthe pin J untouched, so that the operation of the tension-spring K isnot interfered with. The lower end of the depression l and the innerend, j?, of the pin J are rounded, in order to facilitate the upwardsliding of the presser-bar against the end of the pin J when thepresserfoot l is raised.

When the presser-foot is at its highest elevation the depression Z isabove the pin J, and the pin bears against the thicker portion'of thepresser-bar L, whereby the pin is forced forward in its bearing in theface-plate b1 and the power of the spring K restrained, and thus thedisks j are relieved and become loose, and all tension on the threadceases, whereupon the fabric may be easily removed from its positionunder the needle by simply raising the presser-foot, as theneedle-thread is free from tension, and can be easily drawn through theneedle without bending it. By having the slot b5 oblong, the tensiondevice can be moved laterally out of the range of the thicker part ofthe presser-bar, and thus facilities for sewing very thick fabrics areafforded without having the tension interfered with by said thickerportion of the bar when the presser-foot is raised by such fabrics.

A set-screw, J in the face-plate b serves to regulate the tension byheilig screwed more or less forcibly against the spring K.

From the foregoing description it will be seen, first, that while thedevices heretofore used for connecting the tension with the presser-barrequire the employment of intermediate machinery, w hich increases thecost of a sewing-machine, it4 is only necessary to make slight changesin the already-existing parts of such machine, which changes enable meto furnish a machine with a self-relieving tension at a very triiiingadditional expense, while at the same time my tension contrivance avoidsthe necessity of slacking the needle-thread by hand in order to removethe cloth without breaking the thread and springing or breaking theneedle in the act of removing the cloth 5 second, that the take-up in mymachine has all the advantages of an independent take-up, while muchsimpler, in that it consists only of three pieces-to wit, a lifting-pin,a tension-spring, and a take-np lever, all compactly together at thefront part of the bracket B.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the needle-arm E, provided with thepin IL, of the bracket B and the take-up lever I, provided with a springfor holding it down, and with the arm t', which has a straight verticalguiding side, which is terminated in a horizontal curved bearingsurface, 3, the parts being relatively arranged, as described, whereby'the said take-up lever remains at its lowest limit of motion until theneedle-bar, with the needle, has arisen above the fabric, when it beginsto operate to take up the thread, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the head of the sewing-machine, provided withan elongated slot, b5, and the presser-bar L, provided with thedepression or notch l, of the tension device combining the spring K, pinJ, and disks jj, the said spring being pivoted to the head, whereby thesaid pin J a-nd disks j j are permitted to move laterally, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

3. rlhe presser-bar L, having the depression l, and suitable devices forraising and lowering the said bar, in combination with the pin J, anupper tension device, and means for operating the same, whereby when thepresserbar is raised `the said pin is made to release the upperthread-tension device from the said thread, and when the presser-bar islowered the said pin is caused to move to its.normal position, and theupperthread-tension device caused to act upon the said thread,substantially as described.

Witness my hand in the matter of my application for a patent forimprovement in sewing-machines.

JASPER W. GOREY.

Witnesses:

J. P. THEODORE LANG, J. RUssELL BARR.

